”Kadonneessa maassa”

Nostalgian ironisoituminen Rosa Liksomin Bamalamassa

• Kasimir Sandbacka Oulun yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30665/av.75003

Abstrakti

“In a Lost Land” – The Ironizing of Nostalgia in Rosa Liksom’s Bamalama

The interplay between nostalgia and irony has been a central feature of Rosa Liksom’s literary career and public image, but has not been thoroughly studied. This article examines the ironizing of nostalgia in Bamlama (1993), Liksom’s short prose collection in which her dark comedy is arguably the most intense. In this examination, the article employs Linda Hutcheon’s theories of irony and nostalgia as well as Svetlana Boym’s typology of nostalgia. More specifically, it utilizes Hutcheon’s notion of a hermeneutic affinity between irony and nostalgia, and the distinction Boym makes between conservative, restorative nostalgia and ironic, reflective nostalgia.

The article explores instances of both restorative and reflective nostalgia in Bamalama and shows how irony works differently in conjunction with these different types of nostalgia. It argues that Bamalama’s postmodern approach to history is not mere textual play, but has serious ethical implications. Furthermore, it maintains that in its most poignant form, Bamalama’s ironized nostalgia reflects wistfully on the hopes and the emancipatory promises of modernity that are lost in history, rather than settling for the simple mockery of past ideals.